Broken Open

Belle woke up stiffly. The only thing she hated about visiting Jesse was the sleeping in the truck. Groaning, she looked at her radio; seven-thirty. Belle rubbed her eyes and practically rolled out of the vehicle. As she yawned and stretched she made her way slowly up the narrow stairs to the large cherry wood door. Before she had a chance to knock the door whipped open to reveal Jesse’s scowling mother.

“Two hours,” the woman growled.

“And I’ll be gone.” Belle finished. The woman nodded and moved out of the way. Belle felt the heated glare that was being projected at her by the bitter woman; and she did her best to ignore it.

She walked into the living room; following the sounds of old 80’s cartoon explosions. Jesse was sitting boredly on the couch with a half eaten bagel hanging out of his mouth. Belle tried not to laugh at the cream cheese mustache that Jess was sporting. Jess looked around for the source of the noise and immediately sat up. Belle watched the bagel slide out of his mouth and land—cream cheese first—on the hardwood flooring.

“You kept your promise!” Jesse ran to his big sister and hugged her tightly. Belle gasped.

“What’s wrong?” she asked laughing. Jesse buried his small face into Belle’s jacket. Belle sobered up a bit. “Hon, what’s wrong?”

“You’re gonna leave again.” Jess half sobbed, half muttered.

“Yeah babe,” she knelt down to her brother’s height and looked into his chocolate eyes. “But I’ll always come back.” She said smiling.

“You promise?” Jesse’s face was well composed and serious. Laughing, Belle held up her right hand in a Girl Scout salute. “I absolutely, positively promise.” Jesse still looked doubtful. “Scout’s honour.” She said smiling and started tickling the little boy until he screeched with laughter.

The two hours were taken up by watching old cartoons and playing the Hero game. Jesse jumped through the open door way, his beat up blanket-cape flapped behind him dramatically. Belle sat on the ground surrounded by pillows. She was messily tied up with a jump rope and had stickers all over her face and arms to stand as injuries. A stuffed toy dinosaur stood in as the bad guy.

“Oh, save me Jesse!” Belle cried in a high pitched, silly voice. Jesse stopped and gave his sister an annoyed look.

“I’m not Jesse, I’m the Super J! And you’re the lady in trouble.”

“Okay Jess…I mean Super J!” Jesse rolled his eyes like he couldn’t believe that his sister couldn’t catch on.

“You’re not very good at this, are you Sissa?” Belle snorted and looked down at herself.

“I think I’m playing a damsel in distress pretty well.” She smiled smartly. Jess stuck his tongue out at Belle. She wiggled out of her bindings and charged Jess. “Rawr! The damsel is now a zombie!” Belle chased her superhero brother around the living room. When she caught him, Belle wrapped Jesse in a bear hug. They both collapsed on the floor and she pretended to sleep while the distressed superhero struggled to get free. Two chimes from an ancient grandfather clock made Belle release her brother and put on a sad face. She started picking up the pillows and she returned the dinosaur to Jesse.

“Bye, baby.” Belle tousled Jesse’s hair and walked toward the front door. Jess grabbed his sister’s hand. Tears glassed over his eyes. Belle gently brushed him off. “Hon, I can’t stay here. I have to go back to Quantico so that I can play superhero and try to stop the bad guys. I’ll be back soon.” Jesse walked with his sister to the door, then watched Belle walk to her large black truck and drive away.

Belle watched her brother disappear from sight in the rear-view mirror. She turned on the radio and sang along with the song. When she got to a stoplight she looked in the mirror and gave a smile; immediately she started feeling better. Belle couldn’t wait to get home and see everyone, though she didn’t doubt that there’d be files that needed work on her desk. She laughed at the thought of having a mountain of unfiled papers on her small desk. She breathed deeply. Homeward bound, she thought, toward the mountain of papers.